Many beverages are prepared by allowing a composition to come in contact with a liquid for a sufficiently long period of time so that the characteristics such as flavoring, sweetening, and/or coloring components from the composition go into solution. For example, certain types of tea are prepared by placing the leaves or other portions of the plant Camillia sinensis in water for a sufficiently long period of time so that the desirable soluble components from the plant material enter the liquid through the process called infusion. Other types of “tea”—also known as herbal tea, tisane, or ptisan—are made by using portions of plants—such as fresh or dried flowers, fruit, twigs, seeds, or roots—other than that from the Camillia sinensis bush. The beverage coffee is made by allowing dried and ground coffee beans—that is, the seeds of the Coffea arabica or Coffea canephora var. robusta plant or another species of the genus Coffea—to come into contact with a liquid. For purposes of this application, the many types of beverages that can be made from plant material—regardless of the source of the plant material—will be generically termed “tea” and the plant material—regardless the type or source of the material—will be generically termed “leaves”. Tea is typically prepared using a liquid such as water, although other starting substances that are used in combination with the tea (collectively termed “starting substance”) are contemplated. For purposes of this application, the term “water” will mean any starting substance.
Historically, water was combined with the leaves from which the tea was to be made—such as putting the leaves into the water or by pouring the water onto the leaves. The water was then decanted and/or the leaves and water were separated by straining the leaves from the water to produce a beverage for service. The vessel or container—within which the leaves were placed and the leaves and water were mixed to produce tea for service—is commonly known as a “teapot”. For purposes of this application, the term “teapot” will mean any size, shape, or type of container in which a beverage of any type or source may be prepared and/or served.
To facilitate the separation of the leaves and the water, a variety of components and devices were developed. These devices and components will be generally identified in this application as a “separator”. One type of separator is a device that allowed the leaves to be strained from the water. In some cases, such “strainers” were used with teapots or added to teapots. Strainers added to teapots included narrowed areas of the spouts of the teapots that prevented the leaves from being discharged from the teapot when the beverage was served. Strainers included also filtering structures positioned near the teapot spout area that were intended to catch the leaves but allow the beverage to be poured.
Other devices that facilitated the straining of leaves from water were not fixed to the teapot. With time, a wide variety of separators were developed that could retain leaves yet were sufficiently porous so that the water could easily flow through the separator thereby allowing the soluble flavoring and coloring components from the leaves to go into the solution and a tea beverage to be prepared. One group of such devices is a basket-like structure—known by many terms including “tea strainer”—sized and shaped for the positioning of the leaves over the opening or mouth of a container. Water is poured over the leaves, and the resultant beverage drips or cascades into the container. For consumption of the beverage, the tea strainer—within which the wetted leaves are retained—may be easily removed. A personal sized container for which tea strainers were developed is known as a “teacup”. Tea strainers that are sized and shaped to be positioned with the area of a teapot near its top are often termed “brewing baskets” or “infusing baskets”.
Another type of device that facilitated the separation of the leaves from the water is generically termed a “tea infuser”. Tea infusers are known by many different names such “teaball”, “tea egg”, or “tea maker”. A tea infuser includes a perforated component that is sized and shaped to hold leaves and to be positionable in a cup, teapot, or other container, so that water can come into contact with the leaves through the perforations and can be easily extricated from the cup or pot after the beverage has been prepared. To allow the perforated component of the infuser in which the leaves are retained to be easily removed from the container, a chain, rod, or even a handle is attached to the perforated component.
An additional type of device that separates the leaves from the water is a tea bag. A tea bag largely performs the same function as a tea infuser. A tea bag is a separator made from thin material that is sufficiently inexpensive so that the bag can be discarded after a single or a limited number of uses. Such thin materials from which tea bags are made include paper, silk, muslin, and nylon. The thin material may be shaped to define a wide variety of overall bag shapes—such as square, rectangular, circular, and pyramidal—but in all cases specifically to define an inner bag volume for enclosure of the leaves. The thin material from which the bags are made has sufficient porosity so that water can flow readily in and out of the inner bag volume. For purposes of this application, tea strainer, brewing basket, infusing baskets, tea infuser, or tea bag will be termed “removable separators”. For purposes of this application, the element of a removable separator in which the leaves are retained will be termed “retention element” for purposes of this application.
Certain retention elements are attached to a component that permits it to be positioned into water stored in a teapot and moved about and removed from the teapot—so that a person can have limited or no contact with the water during the beverage preparation process. Such a component will be termed “manipulation component” for purposes of this application. One example of a “manipulation component” is the string/tag arrangement of a tea bag. Other examples of a manipulation component are a chain, rod, or handle of tea infusers.
In a manipulation component including a string/tag arrangement, a string typically is attached at one end to the tea bag and a tag is attached at the opposite end of the string. The tag permits easy and sanitary positioning of the bag in the water from which the tea will be made and removal when the preparation process has been completed. The tag is typically sized and shaped so that it can easily be grasped between the thumb and forefinger of the consumer. Such size, however, allows the tag to also carry information identifying, for example, the type of tea leaves within the bag and one or more trademarks or images or other information identifying the source of the bag.
Other retention elements may be used to prepare a beverage and are not attached to a manipulation component. A user may remove the retention element from the beverage, for example, by using their fingers to pull it out or using a utensil such as a spoon to remove the retention element from the beverage.
Removable separators permit consumers to control the steeping process. Once a consumer has determined that a beverage of the proper flavor and strength has been prepared, the consumer can remove the retention element or entire removable separator from the beverage, thereby preventing the beverage from becoming overly strong in taste and possibly preventing the more acidic components of the leaves from becoming solubilized. A serious drawback to the use of removable separators, however, is that once they are removed they are often dripping wet, or at the least, moist. This condition in most cases prevents the infuser or bag from being placed on a surface that will be affected by such moisture. For this reason, a receptacle of some sort—such as a dish or tray or even sink—must be immediately available to receive the dripping infuser or wet tea bag. The need to find a receptacle for the dripping infuser or wet tea bag has additionally limited the conditions in which tea can be prepared and served.
Lids designed to facilitate the preparation and service of tea in a wide variety of conditions are known. Some other lids may be made from thicker material and are intended to simply slow down the rate at which the tea within the container covered by the lid reaches an ambient temperature—that is, the temperature outside the container. Other lids are thin components intended primarily to prevent the beverage from splashing or flowing out of the container. Some other lids are more complex designs that facilitate the preparation of tea with a tea bag and allow the tea to be consumed through the lid. These lids, for example, allow the tea bag to be pulled by the string to an elevated position at or in the lid and releasably held there so that the tea can be consumed without separation of the tea bag from the lid while still in positioned on the beverage container. Such complex arrangements include a drinking aperture through which the beverage can be consumed.
Teapots are intended for the preparation of a volume of beverage, typically more than a single cup and often for more than one consumer. The lids for teapots are intended to help slow the process by which the beverage within the teapot reaches ambient temperature. For this reason, teapot lids are not made from the thin inexpensive material suitable for one time use, then easy disposal—such as the lids used with “take away” cups—but more substantial material suitable for the task of reusing the lid and teapot and retaining the temperatures developed within the vessel portion of the teapot. For this reason, lids for teapots include no opening or, at the most, a single aperture—“pin” size in dimension—through which air may be drawn to prevent “vacuum” like conditions from being developed within the teapot as the beverage is being served from it. Overall, teapot lids do not include any features by which a removable separator can be moved from a steeping position to a position elevated relative to the beverage so that the leaves are no longer steeping yet the bag is stored for any length of time so no additional receptacle for the wet infuser or bag is necessary. A teapot lid with features by which a removable separator can be moved from a steeping position to a position elevated relative to the beverage would permit the wider usage of teapots and therefore the additional receptacle for the wet infuser/bag would be obviated.
A demand therefore exists for a lid that facilitates the preparation of a beverage from a retention element and permits the retention element to be moved to a position separated from contact with the beverage but releasably held by the lid to permit service of the beverage. The present invention satisfies the demand.